


Distractions

by magickfaye (firefliesinlove)



Category: General fiction - Fandom, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-09-21
Updated: 2006-09-21
Packaged: 2017-10-21 13:32:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/225731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefliesinlove/pseuds/magickfaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>McKay is using his laptop during a meeting. But not for research or any kind of work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Distractions

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
> 
> This story is archived at <http://www.squidge.org/peja/cgi-bin/viewstory.php?sid=30645>

Dr. Rodney McKay was an irritable, arrogant and obnoxious scientist with an extremely high I.Q., though there were instances during which he would be far too distracted to use his genius mentality. His mind would wander on occasion, only to be brought back to reality by some snide remarks from his fellow co-workers, to which he usually responded with equally snide remarks.

On the best of days, if he was in a good enough mood, McKay's remarks and observations were kept to a minimum. He could be quite bitter and overly critical if his mood was anything other than perfectly content. On those other days, almost everybody would try to keep him at a safe distance and avoid communication with him as much as possible in order to avert confrontations, arguments and discussions of any kind that would probably turn nasty as a result of his bad temper.

In order to improve his mood, McKay would usually open up his laptop and pull up a game or two. They were small distractions, but still welcome at any rate. He found them to be visually pleasing and they stimulated his mind in more ways than he could imagine. If his mood was especially foul, he had a tendency to win.

Dr. Elizabeth Weir, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, Dr. Carson Beckett and himself were all sitting at a table in the middle of a large, bright room. It was a meeting to discuss their current status in Atlantis. Lieutenant Aiden Ford was currently in the infirmary with a mild concussion that he'd gotten from falling down the side of a hill on one of their missions. Dex and Teyla were both in the midst of training.

McKay's laptop was open, and his fingers were tapping the table impatiently as he looked from person to person, his blue eyes slightly blood-shot from working hard for five days and getting little to no sleep at all. He most definitely was not in a good mood. Weir, Sheppard and Beckett were all quite aware of that fact, so they didn't push him to talk about anything.

Rodney's fingers subconsciously moved from the table to his keyboard, and within a matter of seconds, an old-school version of 'Pac-Man' had popped up with the words 'Press Enter to Start' flashing continuously in a bright yellow Helvetica font. His mind registered the fact that the people around him couldn't see his screen if he moved it off to a specific angle. With stealth-like maneuvers, he managed to turn his laptop, and was soon up to level eight and with lives to spare.

His facial expressions hadn't changed for the past fifteen minutes, something that Weir had noticed. Her eyes locked onto the back of his laptop, and she stopped talking. Sheppard and Beckett followed her gaze, and Sheppard cleared his throat.

McKay didn't move an inch.

This time Weir cleared her throat. Still no signs of McKay having heard either of them.

"Rodney..." Beckett, who was the closest to McKay and his laptop, tried his luck in a mere whisper, which then grew to a loud shout by Sheppard.

"MCKAY!!!" There was a brief moment of awkward and tense silence, during which McKay had enough time to jump slightly out of his chair and watch as Pac-Man was eaten by its enemies. "GAME OVER" flashed across his screen in red letters as his mind slowly but surely returned to reality. Conference room... meeting... right. He looked up to see that he had been caught. Three pairs of eyes stared back into his, and he shuddered.

"...hmm?" His eyes, now wide, retained what he had left of his naivety and innocence in the entire matter.

"The meeting, remember?" Dr. Weir had her head propped up on her hand with her elbow resting on the table. In her eyes were glints of sheer amusement at the whole situation.

"The meeting. Right. Got it." He felt the heat rising to his cheeks, so he looked back down at his laptop and closed it ever so slowly. "Really. I'm listening now."

After a few seconds of suspicious glares and frowns from his co-workers, they went back to talking about whatever it was that was so important. McKay sighed and stared off into oblivion after he was no longer the centre of attention. He crossed his arms, let them rest on the table, and slowly but surely his eyes glazed over as the fingers on his right hand fiddled around with the Canadian flag patch on the left sleeve of his navy blue uniform. Visions of sugar-plum fairies, Pac-Man and high scores danced around in his head until he lost consciousness altogether.

It wasn't the first time he had fallen asleep at a meeting, but it was the first time he'd fallen out of his chair and _not_ woken up as a result.

Dr. Rodney McKay was easily distracted. He had in incredibly low attention span when it came to trivial matters such as a 'Status Update' meeting in Atlantis. An event which occurred maybe once or twice a week, depending on the situation at hand. McKay would eventually have to learn how to stay interested in his fate and that of the others in Atlantis.

**GAME OVER**

  


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End file.
